Snapping :: Cursor Jumping Around

Question

When my cursor gets near an object in any PowerCADD v6 drawing, I see the O light up in the Snap Window and the cursor appears to jump away from the object. It seems that O snapping (is that Origin?) is always on, what's happening and how do I fix the situation?

Requirements

PowerCADD v6 and Mac OS^? X Jaguar
PowerCADD v7 and Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.4) or newer recommended

Background

O snapping is the Offset Snap, allowing you to specify how far away from an objects vertex a snap should occur. This would explain why the cursor appears to be jumping away from an object.

O snapping only occurs when the O key is pressed and the mouse is near an objects vertex

You can specify the x,y offset by pressing Option + O and making the desired adjustments to values in the Snap Offset dialog as shown here. The settings you specify will remain in effect until you change them.

It's also possible something happened to damage your PowerCADD Defaults file ( the defaults file contains various basic application settings). What exactly causes a defaults file to get damaged is , frankly, unknown. However a damaged defaults file can explain a variety of unknown erratic behavior.

It's also possible something happened to your Mac OS X disk permissions which could be causing a problem with the PowerCADD Defaults file. Again, specifically what causes a permissions problem is unknown but with the introduction of a multi-user Unix based OS, Mac OS X contains tens of thousands of files all of which contain unique permission settings and which must coexist. One damaged preference file can have a chain reaction into various small issues such as this.

What to do

Snapping:
By default, all snapping functions, including O snapping are on all the time (unless you specifically change the drawing setup settings). If you do not press the O (oh) key when drawing then the offset snap should never be envoked and the condition you're seeing shouldn't occur.

PowerCADD Defaults:
If you have not invoked O snapping and the problem persists then you can try removing your PowerCADD Defaults file, it may be they have become damaged. To remove your PowerCADD Defaults file, do this:

1. make sure PowerCADD isn't running (quit the application)
2. open your UserHomeDirectory/Library/Preferences/PowerCADD folder
3. drag the file PowerCADD Defaults onto your Desktop
4. relaunch PowerCADD and see if the problem persists

Note, this operation causes PowerCADD to build a new defaults file with factory default settings you will need to go back and adjust your application preferences.

If the problem goes a way they something had damaged the preferences file causing the problem. If the problem persists or shows up again after a while then it could be a lower level problem with OS X permissions.

To address a recurring problemdo this to repair your OS X disk permissions:
Note: This would apply if the problem is occurring with PowerCADD running in OS X or even if you're running an older version of PowerCADD in Classic under OS X.

Quit all open applications before repairing disk permissions then:

1. remove the damaged owerCADD Defaults file as noted earlier
2. launch Apple's Disk Utility application (Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility)
3. click on the First Aid tab
4. in the right hand pane, click on your startup disk icon
5. click Repair Permissions

The process will take a while but when complete, you should try launching PowerCADD again and see if the problem shows up again. If you're getting the problem repeating consistently then it's clearly something unique to your operating system or installation of PowerCADD. You should run all the standard Mac OS X disk checks, permissions and various CRON^? house keeping scripts along with Disk Warrior if necessary to make sure your disk is in top shape, then do a clean install of PowerCADD (see other articles here for specifics on those subjects). You should also make sure you are running the latest installations of PowerCADD as posted on Engineered Software's website and discussed in other articles here. If the problem is persisting in Mac OS 9 then the same advice applies but use the Mac OS 9 specific utilities (Disk Warrior is a great one).

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

Snapping :: Life Before Offset Snapping

Question

How can I use the Edit Window to specify the start point for drawing an object?

Requirements

Any version of PowerDraw or PowerCADD
PowerCADD v7 and Mac OS^? X Tiger (10.4.4) or newer recommended

Background

The Edit Window is one of the most power and, sadly, misunderstood feature of PowerDraw and PowerCADD. Chief among the many benefits of the Edit Window is its' ability to accept direct input of user values including mathematical operations. In fact, the Edit Window can even accept mixed units! (for example, the drawing units might be set to millimetres but calculations or values can be entered in feet, inches, miles, etc.).

This technique is compliments of PowerCADD Canada - Thanks!

What to do

When you find yourself in the situation where: Even when using "object snap on" this makes some snaps unusable in conjunction with the OFFSET snap.

Simply forget about the O snap.
You can use solution #15 (derived from Life before the Offset snap):

1. choose the tool you want to use
2. use the snap you really need to use to snap to that specific spot on the object
3. begin to drag/draw
4. key Tab and use the simple boolean math feature of the Edit Window and add + (or subtract -) to the beginning X and/or Y coordinates to invoke your offset(
5. key Enter and continue drawing the way you want to.

Following the above steps, In this demo movie (120KB) , we'll use direct input in the Edit Window to specify the start point for a line. The line wants to start 2'-0" (X) right and 6" (Y) up from the corner of a building. While PowerCADD v5 and newer provide an Offset Snap for this sort of task, we can achieve the same results using a very basic PowerCADD technique. (need movie help?)

We hope that helps tweak your imagination as to some of the fundamental techniques available in PowerCADD!

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

Snapping :: OffSet Snapping

Question

How to I start drawing an object from a particular Delta X, Delta Y location which is offset from an existing piece of geometry. For example, I'd like to start drawing a line which is offset 2'-0" X and 6" Y from the corner of my building.

Requirements

PowerCADD v5 or newer and Mac OS^? 9 or Mac OS X
PowerCADD v7 and Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.4) or newer recommended

Background

There are several methods to start drawing an object which is offset from an existing piece of geometry. This article will limit it's discussion to using PowerCADD's Offset Snap feature as it is the most direct method.

O snapping is the Offset Snap, allowing you to specify how far away from an objects vertex a snap should occur. O snapping is intelligent and will find the most logical Offset location based on your current mouse location when the O (oh) key is pressed.

What to do

To use Offset Snap, do this:

1. select a drawing tool , for example the Line Tool, from the Tool Palette
2. place the cursor on an existing object (e.g. a line defining the corner of a building)
3. press the O key (that's 'oh', not zero)
4. observe: the red snap indicator highlights showing you where the snap will occur (the O also becomes red on the Snap Indicator Window)
5. press the mouse button down and start to drag to draw the object
6. release the O key and continue to drag to define the object

Note, it's important to press and sustain the O key from step 3 through step 6.

You can specify the x,y offset by pressing Option + O and making the desired adjustments to values in the Snap Offset dialog. The settings you specify will remain in effect until you change them.

Demo Movie (270KB download) outlines the basic process. In this demo movie, we did this: (need movie help?)

1. Note we press the O (that's 'oh', not zero) to force an Offset Snap
2. we press Option + O to force the Offset Snap Dialog to appear
3. values entered are 'to scale' (in this example 1/2" =1'-0")
4. notice the position of the mouse relative to the end point of the line. Offset Snap will calculate geometry so it's not necessary to have the mouse precisely on the End Point from which the desired Offset Snap is intended.

The same process may be used to begin or end the drawing operation using any PowerCADD tool.

We hope that helps
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak